Football United

HSV returned to winning ways on Saturday afternoon (11.02.06) beating Mainz 1-0 in front of a 52,081 crowd in the AOL Arena. The only goal of the game was scored by HSV’s man of the match Mehdi Mahdavikia, who struck by way of a superb solo run on 6 minutes. HSV had the lions share of the play and deserved their 1-0 win over the side under coach Jürgen Klopp. The victory saw HSV overtake bitter rivals Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga table and move into second place, after Werder lost 0-2 at home to lowly Kaiserslautern.

Chopping and changing… HSV coach Thomas Doll had to do without several key players as Mainz came to town: Birthday boy Rafael van der Vaart (23 on Saturday 11.2 06) And Bastian Reinhardt have been out injured for an age, but both are back training again. Veteran midfielder Stefan Beinlich (Torn hip muscle) nd "Toni" Ailton, who underwent successful surgery on a broken jaw on Thursday also missed the round 21 Bundesliga clash. Visiting coach Jürgen Klopp also had selection headaches: First choice players Fabian Gerber, Petr Ruman and Conor Casey all missed the trip to Hamburg as did his first choice keeper Dimo Wache.

Benny back!
Dolly surprised many people in the AOL Arena by picking Benny Lauth ahead of Naohiro Takahara. According to the HSV coach, Lauth deserved his first team place by training well all week. Raphael Wicky replaced Beinlich in Doll’s starting line-up.

Mahdavikia gives HSV dream start
HSV fans didn’t have long to wait to celebrate the first goal, in fact, it came after only 6 minutes. New signing Nigel de Jong battled for the ball and won it in midfield, from where he sent the Iranian wing-wizard Mehdi Mahdavikia on his way towards the Mainz goal with the sweetest of through balls. The HSV crowd favourite had the huge crowd on their feet as he started a mazy solo run which saw him round several Mainz defenders, before blasting home a fine shot into the bottom right hand corner of the Mainz net to send the home crowd into raptures of joy.

Deserved half time lead
The opening goal calmed the HSV nerves, and the team began to play with more confidence. On 27 minutes, Lauth was denied by the Mainz keeper Wetklo. Jarolim and Barbarez had a double chance on the stroke of half time, but it wasn’t to be. Mainz had only one shot on goal during the first 45 minutes, so HSV took their deserved one goal lead with them into the half time break.



HSV defence superb
It was plain to see that the visiting coach Klopp had ordered his side to opt a more attacking approach during his half time team talk. They tried to obey his order but the HSV defence (especially captain Daniel van Buyten) was rock solid and hardly allowed the visitors a sniff at goal. On the hour mark, HSV had the chance to go further ahead, but David Jarolim was foiled by Wetklo after receiving a pass from Mahdavikia. Seven minutes later Benny Lauth missed a gilt-edged chance following a superb through ball by Barbarez. Lauth found himself running alone towards goal, but was stopped in the nick of time by a Mainz defender.

No penalty
On 67 minutes, the home side thought they had got a penalty as Lauth fell inside the Mainz area. But the referee just shook his head, much to the amazement of many of those present. Ten minutes later, the referee made a blatant mistake as he ruled that Takahara had fouled the Mainz keeper as they both went up for a ball following a Mahdavikia corner. In truthm the keeper spilled the ball which Taka duly dispatched into the back of the net for what was a perfectly good goal. It was to be the final chance of the game.

Frankfurt next!
Mainz fought bravely but could find no way through the rock-solid home defence. HSV fully deserved to win the match, and the fact that Werder lost 0-2 at home to lowly Kaiserslautern made the victory taste twice as good! HSV is now back in second place in the Bundesliga table and now face a tricky away trip to Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday February 19th (kick off 5.30 pm).

HSV: Wächter - Mahdavikia, van Buyten, Boulahrouz, Atouba - Wicky, de Jong, Jarolim, Trochowski (77.Klingbeil) - Barbarez, Lauth (78.Takahara)

Mainz: Wetklo - Abel, Noveski, Friedrich, Weigelt - Pekovic, Addo (71.Geißler), da Silva - Zidan (65.Weiland) - Auer, Thurk

Goals: 1:0 Mahdavikia (6.)

Source: HSV.de

BUNDESLIGA

Pos. Team Pld Pts
1. Bayern Munchen 21 54
2. Hamburg 21 44
3. Bremen 21 43
4. Schalke 21 39
5. Hertha 21 30